1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image-forming apparatus that performs maintenance processing.
2. Description of the Related Art
A monitoring system, operable by a remote user, monitors an operating state of an image-forming apparatus, such as a copying machine or a printer, connected to a local area network (LAN). The system includes a plurality of image-forming apparatuses and a monitoring apparatus that can communicate with each other via a LAN, a wide area network (WAN), or the Internet.
Each image-forming apparatus periodically transmits counter information, such as the number of times of image formation made, to the monitoring apparatus. Furthermore, the image-forming apparatus notifies the monitoring apparatus of the occurrence of jam or error. The information received by the monitoring apparatus is managed as maintenance information.
The monitoring apparatus, functioning as an information storage/management apparatus, determines an operating status of each image-forming apparatus based on the content of information received from the image-forming apparatus. The monitoring apparatus manages accounting for a client according to the maintenance contract, based on the information received, and dispatches a service engineer for a maintenance work if necessary.
For example, the maintenance contract for an image-forming apparatus includes determining the amount of charge based on the total number of times of image formation made per month. In such a case, the monitoring apparatus calculates the sum of image formation made per month based on counter information periodically transmitted from each image-forming apparatus and determines the amount of money to be charged.
To manage the status of image formation, the counter is configured to count the number of times of image formation actually made by an image-forming apparatus. Therefore, the counter number includes the number of times of image formation performed by a service engineer for the maintenance work.
The number of times of image formation calculated by the monitoring apparatus based on counter information becomes larger than the number of times of image formation actually made by a client. The amount of money charged for the client according to the maintenance contract increases unreasonably.
When a service engineer can manually record the number of times of image formation made during the maintenance work, a recorded number can be subtracted from the counter number corresponding to the amount of money charged on a bill to be issued.
However, according to the above-described recording method, a service engineer is required to manually perform recording and processing for determining the amount of charge. Furthermore, the manual operation-dependent method is not reliable.
To solve the above-described problem, a system discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-152826 includes an instruction unit provided in an image-forming apparatus. The instruction unit enables a user to instruct start/end of the maintenance work, and the image-forming apparatus records the number of times of image formation made during the maintenance work.
Then, according to the system discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-152826, an image-forming apparatus transmits the amount of image formation made during a maintenance work to a management apparatus. The management apparatus calculates the amount of money charged based on the information received from the image-forming apparatus.
The management apparatus can reduce a burden placed on a service engineer during a maintenance work, namely, does not require the service engineer to manually record the number of times of image formation made during the maintenance work. The management apparatus identifies the number of times of image formation actually made by a user, and can determine the amount of money charged corresponding to the identified number of times of image formation made.
The maintenance contract can include an agreement that guarantees a predetermined time/ratio corresponding to normal operation time (uptime) that does not include a maintenance work for an image-forming apparatus or a failed state of the image-forming apparatus.
In such a case, to calculate the uptime, the system is required to measure the start time and the end time of each maintenance work.
A system discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-99281 includes a time authentication unit configured to record start/end instruction time of a maintenance work.
These systems require a work start operation and a work end operation performed by a service engineer. To prevent the service engineer from forgetting the required operations, the system discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-6192 includes a display unit that displays a current status of the maintenance work.
As described above, the service engineer is required to perform manual operations for a system that manages the amount of image formation made during a maintenance work and calculates the amount of money to be charged for a client or a system that manages the time required for a maintenance work. However, the service engineer may fail to perform required operations.
In general, a service engineer starts a maintenance work while viewing an operation menu for the maintenance work, which ensures the service engineer to enter a maintenance start instruction.
On the other hand, the service engineer tends to forget a maintenance end operation because the service engineer can immediately leave the client's facility upon finishing the maintenance work.
Furthermore, as understood from the conventional system that includes a work end operation unit manually operable by a service engineer, it is generally difficult to accurately detect the end time of a maintenance work based on an operating status without relying on manual operations.
Furthermore, if a service engineer does not perform a maintenance work end operation, the system is continuously kept in an inoperative state where every image formation is regarded as formation made for the maintenance work, even after the service engineer has finished the maintenance work, and all the image formation is not counted for the accounting processing.
To solve this problem, a system discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-6192 displays a message of maintenance work currently performed on its display unit to prevent a service engineer from failing to perform a maintenance work end operation.
However, the service engineer possibly fails to confirm the display of maintenance, if the service engineer forgets a maintenance work end operation and immediately leaves the client's facility upon finishing the maintenance work.